Whatsonstage – http://www.whatsonstage.com - London focused site which is expanding its regional coverage. Unrivalled up-to-date news and reviews coverage, plus a lively message board with gossip and commentary.

The Stage Online – http://www.thestage.co.uk - Virtual presence of the theatre industry’s only weekly print publication. Blogs are useful and searchable news, reviews and listings archive is helpful for research.

Playbill – http://www.playbill.com - New York based site with all the latest Broadway and US theatre news, with a smattering of international coverage. Also publishes weekly takings for Broadway shows.

THEATRICAL REFERENCE

Arts Archive – http://www.arts-archive.com - Although occasionally hit-and-miss, this is a vast free archive covering UK show listings for roughly the last decade, sometimes including cast details.

Internet Broadway Database – http://www.ibdb.com - Does for Broadway what IMDB does for Hollywood, with detailed archive of productions and those involved in them.

Theatre Monkey – http://www.theatremonkey.com - Seating plans for London theatres with guides to good and bad seats. Useful particularly when setting your own ticket prices, or just to get a good seat!

West End Whingers – http://www.westendwhingers.co.uk - Irreverent reviews of London shows by two anonymous paying punters, who aren’t afraid of saying acerbic things about previews. One particularly memorable posting reports how they spent the second half of a show frolicking in the sunshine rather than sitting through the performance.

The Guardian Theatre Blog – http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage - Whilst their news coverage is not worth bothering with, the site’s useful for its incisive opinions expressed through the lively blogs and comments.

Baz Bamigboye – http://www.dailymail.co.uk - The Daily Mail’s theatre correspondent often runs insightful gossip on his Friday column which is available via the newspaper’s Web site.

PHOTO LIBRARIES

Artzooks – http://www.artzooks.com - Access a number of popular libraries in one search. Often cheaper than buying directly from the source site.

Getty Images – http://www.gettyimages.com - One of the original photo libraries, with an incredible range including many classic shots and archival news material. Buying an image on a rights-managed basis from here can be eye-wateringly expensive, but you can at least get an instant quote online.

iStockPhoto – http://www.istockphoto.com - Anyone can post photos here for sale to others, so the quality can be variable but the range is unmatched. Useful search features allow you to seek out images based on their use of a particular colour, as well as by keyword.

Photos.com – http://www.photos.com - Images can be bought individually or subscribe for a month for unlimited access.

This is not an exhaustive list, and it is only exclusive in the sense that I’ve only included venues that I have a good personal experience of hiring. Not all locations are suitable for castings as some only rent by the week, whilst others are inconveniently located for actors trying to fit in multiple auditions in a day.

One Comment

Thank you very much for your excellent “So You Want To Be A Theatre Producer” and accompanying website. I have dabbled on the fringes of the industry for a few years and am in the process of forming a new theatre company, and your book is proving really informative and encouraging

I just thought I’d drop you a note to say that I’ve spotted a couple of obsolete/dead links which you might want to consider updating at some point, both under the Chapter 5 section: